without any anchoring words. In the second sec-
tion, the photographs are reproduced as black-and-
white thumbnails with lengthy explanatory titles.
There are also a number of texts, including a chron-
ology of events leading up to the revolution and
various interviews, among them official quotes
from Somoza as well as testimony from a housewife
named Rosa Atilia. The ambiguity of the first sec-
tion is thus contextualized by the voices of those
whose history is being documented in the second.
While it becomes apparent that Meiselas’s sympa-
thies are with the Sandinistas, she again explores a
type of reportage that encompasses competing per-
spectives and not reducing the complexity of her
subject to a single, or simplistic point of view.
Most important, her device of using disparate texts
derived from interviews and conversations moves
towards challenging the criticism most often leveled
at a documentary impulse: the silencing or disem-
powering of those who are photographed.
Meiselas’s subsequent projects, also resulting in
books, Kurdistan and Encounters with the Dani,
both use the juxtaposition of image and text, drawn
from a variety of sources, as a rhetorical device. In
each case, Meiselas takes on the role of editor more
than author. The intention of the two books is to
collect together and negotiate the competing repre-
sentations and implications derived from encounters
between different peoples. In addition to the book
Kurdistan, Meiselas has initiated a website project,
http://www.akaKurdistan.com, which aims to establish a
virtual archive of visual artifacts and reminiscences.
Encounters with the Danievolved out of Meiselas’s
collaboration with the filmmaker Robert Gardner,
whom she had met at Harvard, and who in the early
1960s had lived with and filmed the Dani of Baliem
Valley, West Papua, a Stone Age society. It is a kind
of dossier; historical and geographical documents
are brought together with personal testimonies in a
way that is overwhelming. Meaning is not presented
as afait accomplithrough the use of a single, cap-
tioned image. Rather, it is endlessly generated and
moderated out of an array of interpretations.
Meiselas was active in Chile, El Salvador, and
Nicaragua, and she has received various awards for
her work in Central America. They include the
Robert Capa Gold Medal for outstanding courage
and reporting (1979), the Leica Medal for Excellence
(1982), a MacArthur Fellowship (1992), and the
Hasselblad Foundation Prize (1994). Meiselas has
co-produced two films in collaboration with Richard
Rogers and Alfred Guzzetti:Living at Risk: The
Story of a Nicaraguan Family(1985) andPictures
from a Revolution (1991). Her photographs have
been published widely, for example, inTime,the
New York Times, Paris-Match,andLife.She con-
tinues to undertake projects that combine education,
oral history, and photography, including a program
titledA Photographic Genealogy, which she devel-
oped as a consultant to the Polaroid Corporation.
JaneFletcher
Seealso: Life Magazine; Magnum Photos; Social
RepresentationBiography
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, 21 June 1948. Graduated
with degree in Anthropology, Sarah Lawrence College,
1970; Ed. M, Harvard University, School of Education,- Honorary Doctor in Fine Arts, Parson’s School of
Art, 1986; Honorary Doctor in Fine Arts, The Art Insti-
tute of Boston, 1996. Photographic Consultant, Com-
munity Resources Institute, New York, New York,
1972–1974; Artist in Residence, South Carolina Arts
Commission, 1974–1975; Faculty, Center for Under-
standing Media, New School for Research, New York;
Freelance Photographer, Magnum Photos, New York,
1976–present. Awards: Robert Capa Award, 1979;
Photojournalist of the Year, ASMP, 1982; Leica
Award for Excellence, 1982; National Endowment for
the Arts Fellowship, 1984; Engelhard Award, Institute
of Contemporary Art, 1985; Lyndhurst Foundation,
1987; MacArthur Fellowship, 1992; Maria Moors
Cabot Prize, Columbia Journalism School, 1994; Mis-
souri Honor Medal, Missouri School of Journalism,
1994; Hasselblad Foundation Prize; 1994, Rockefeller
Foundation, Multi-Media Fellowship, 1995. Living in
New York, New York.
Individual Exhibitions
1977 A.M. Sachs Gallery; New York, New York
1981 FNAC Gallery; Paris, France
1982 Side Gallery; Newcastle-on-Tyne, England
1982 Camerawork; London, England
1984 Museum Folkwang; Essen, Germany
1990 Crossings: Photographs by Susan Meiselas; Art Insti-
tute of Chicago; Chicago, Illinois
1994 Hasselblad Center; Go ̈teborg, Sweden
1998 Leica Gallery; New York, New York
2000 Carnival Strippers: Photographs by Susan Meiselas;
Whitney Museum of American Art; New York, New York
2001 Canal de Isabel II; Madrid, Spain
2003 Foam Fotographie Museum Amsterdam; Amsterdam,
NetherlandsGroup Exhibitions
1982 New Color Work; Fogg Art Museum; Harvard Uni-
versity, Cambridge, Massachusetts
1984 El Salvador; Museum for Photographic Arts; San
Diego, California
1986 On the Line; Walker Art Center; Minneapolis, Minnesota
1989 The Art of Photography; Museum of Fine Arts; Hous-
ton, Texas
1989 In Our Time; International Center of Photography;
New York, New YorkMEISELAS, SUSAN